Offbeat Angel
by Shenzuul
Summary: There are some things even a bully cannot stand by and watch happen. Rated high T for language.
1. Chapter 1

**.:one:.**

This is crazy.

"H-hey! What do you think you're doing?"

This is _messed up_.

"Stop!"

He was running, so I followed for laughs. He left the door hanging open behind him. But when I stepped through, what I saw—

_"FENTON!"_

I have never moved my legs faster in my entire life—not during all those practices with the coach bellowing in my ears to _try harder_, not at the key moment in the final play of the most important football game of the year, not when the college recruiter came and offered my only chance at a future that doesn't involve flipping burgers. I _fly_ forward, trying to bend those stupid laws of physics that I never really understood anyway. My fist closes around a handful of t-shirt an instant before one skinny teenager can launch himself from the roof.

"Wha—_Dash?"_

Why did it have to be me up here? Why couldn't someone else have seen him first? _Why am _I_ the one saving Fenton from suicide?_

I yank him backwards, away from the edge. He stumbles and crashes into me, bouncing off my chest. Even before he regains his balance, my mouth flaps open and frantic babble pours out.

"You don't want to do this, Fenton, there are better options, you can get help, there are people who care about you, you don't want to throw your life away…"

I don't even know what I'm saying. I'm just spouting off the first words that come to me— all that crap that shrinks and stuff spew at times like this. It's a load of bull, and I know it; the words are meaningless coming from me. What can_ I _say? I'm Fenton's enemy, not his _fucking guardian angel._ What kind of screwed up world sends a bully to save someone? That's a job for a hero, not, not—not _Dash Baxter._

And just what made Fenton decide to hurl himself off a roof anyway? Is he trying to prove a point? Has he cracked from stress? Is it his crazy family, his weird relationship with his freakish not-quite-girlfriend, something about school—

Oh.

Oh god.

This isn't—this isn't _my_ fault, is it? He hasn't—I mean, I've heard that people do, sometimes. Break, I mean. Because of...of...bullying. I mean, I never really thought about it before, but, I never meant—oh _god_, could I really have pushed him over the edge? No, no, that can't be—Fenton's too _tough_ for that. With that smart-ass mouth of his, and those bored eyes, and that scowl; he's weak, but not _mentally_, y'know? He's too, too defiant to break. The idea's just—wrong. God, I feel sick. I never thought—

"...You...you can't…" I only now notice that my mouth has been yammering this entire time, and I suddenly run out of things to say. My jaw hangs uselessly, and my throat goes all dry and funny and makes a weird croaking sound before I lose my voice entirely.

Now that I've shut up, I finally realize that Fenton's been trying to talk, too, trying to get my attention.

"C'mon, Dash, lemme go, this isn't what you think—"

But I'm too wound up to listen. "Not what I think? Not what I _think?" _I guess I shouldn't be yelling at someone who's already unhinged enough to, to—but I can't stop myself; I've got all this fear inside me and it keeps building and building, and I can't keep it all in because I'm not used to being afraid and it's messing up my thoughts and making me angry! "I _saw_ you! You were about to _jump_ off the _roof!"_

Fenton squirms in my grip. "I—well, yeah, but I—Look, Dash, I really don't have time for this! Please, just let me go!"

I see an all-too-realistic picture of blood splattered all over the school steps and Fenton lying there on the concrete, his skinny arms bent weirdly, bones poking out of his skin, his head cracked open like an egg, and want to throw up. I grab Fenton's shoulders in a death grip, making him wince. "No. No way." My voice is shaking. "I—I won't let you! I, I'm stronger than you, I can stop you!"

But now it's Fenton who isn't listening. He goes all stiff, staring into the distance past my ear. "Dash," he says, his voice strained. "Let me go. Now."

"I won't," I insist.

Fenton snaps his eyes to mine, and I automatically jerk back. I've never seen him look so intense. "Dash. I can't explain what's going on right now, but I swear—I _swear_—I am not going to kill myself. But I need you to let go of me—_right now."_

Where did all that authority packed into his voice come from? Is this really Fenton? Without warning, I'm hit by the feeling that I'm face to face with a stranger. Shocked, I loosen my grip, kinda wanting to back away. It's only for an instant—an _instant_—but Fenton manages to yank himself out of my grasp. Before I can react, he takes off running. Right for the edge. I don't even have time to suck in the air to shout after him.

He reaches the edge.

He leaps.

It's over. I'm too late.

I...have to see. I have to...know. But I don't want to. I can't...But my feet are already moving on their own, dragging me forward, one step, and another, and another...And with each step, why? Why did I do it? I...

I let go.

I'm here. I'm at the edge. All I have to do is look down. Just...look down, Dash. But I can't. I'm shaking all over. I'm not brave enough to bend my neck, just a little. Not brave enough to see with my eyes what's already flashing in my head…

Something shoots up past me from below; the wind yanks at my hair. My head snaps up, and I stare at the glowing figure of Danny Phantom. He freezes for just a moment and looks back at me. The expression on his face is weird, and the intensity of his eyes is creepily familiar. "He's fine," he says. And then he races away, and I catch a glimpse of some ghost he's chasing before they both disappear behind the school.

And for some reason, it's not hard to look down anymore. I lean over the edge of the roof a little, squint at the ground.

Nothing. There's nothing, no one there. No blood. No body. No panicking people, no ambulances and flashing lights.

_"I swear—I _swear_—I am not going to kill myself."_

This is crazy.

_"I can't explain right now."_

What _is_ all of this? What's going on?

_"He's fine."_

I'm missing something here, something really important. I want to connect the dots, but my mind's gone blank.

_Fenton…?_

I'm not some guardian angel. I don't do things for free. I don't know what just happened, but I'm gonna get answers. Even if I can't beat them out of him.

* * *

><p><strong>Note:<strong> Slightly edited, mostly to reduce awkward cursing.


	2. Chapter 2

**WARNING: **If you liked the first chapter, if you thought it was complete in itself, DO NOT READ THIS ONE.

* * *

><p><strong>.:two:.<strong>

This sucks.

_"Mr. Baxter!"_

_I jump, sending my pencil flying off the desk. Lancer gives me the eye, and I hear a few snickers behind me. But I can't bring myself to glare and shut them up. I haven't stopped shaking since I came down off the roof. As I bend over to grab my pencil, I feel Fenton's eyes burning into my back._

If I have to see my life flashing before my eyes, why can't I relive an awesome football game, or making out with Paulina, or bullying Fenton? But no, all I get is a replay of these lousy two weeks.

_"Time's up, Fenton!"_

_The loser and his loser friends cut off their whispered conversation and whip around to stare at me as I march right up to Fenton and jab a finger into his chest. He stumbles backwards and slams into his locker. His wimpiness pisses me off. Where's the tough guy from the roof? "You said you'd explain, so start explaining."_

_"What are you talking about?" he asks nervously. "I don't remember saying that." He tries to edge away, but I'm not having any of it. I slam a fist into the locker next to his head._

_"You said, 'I don't have time to explain _right now,_'" I snarl. "Which _infers_," I continue, using a word I picked up in Lancer's class, "that you would _later._ Guess what, Fenton? It's later now. So you're gonna tell me how you knew Phantom would be there, and how Phantom knew to catch you."_

_"Danny doesn't have to explain anything to you!" snaps Goth girl._

_"Y-yeah," pipes up the techno geek._

_"Shut up." I don't even bother looking at them. "Fenturd has some sort of connection with Phantom, doesn't he? I want to know what it is, or I'll tell the whole school about you trying to off yourself."_

_Fenton squirms under my scowl. "All right, all right. You got me, okay? I know Phantom." He hesitates. "I...kind of…work with Phantom. I'm sort of like his, uh, his...sidekick."_

_"Sidekick?"_

_"Yeah."_

_"_You're_ Phantom's sidekick."_

_He nods. I laugh in his face. Like I'd believe that! "No way. How would a wimp like you end up as Phantom's sidekick? You're lying, Fenton. Tell me the truth."_

_Fenton glares. "This may come as a big shock to you, Dash," he snaps, "but there are some things only I can do."_

_"Like what?"_

_"Danny!" hisses Manson. He flinches._

_"I, uh, never mind, I wasn't really…"_

_He's hiding something. Something _big._ It's written all over his face, and the faces of the other freaks. "What's so special about Fenton?" I ask slowly. All three of them clam up and look away. I narrow my eyes and grab a fistful of Fenton's shirt. "Tell me what you're hiding, or I'll beat you til the inside of your locker looks roomy__."_

_And for some reason, my empty threats seem to make Fenton grow a backbone__. He straightens up, and out of nowhere, he pulls out that same creepy look he used back _then_, his eyes going all intense, like he's not afraid, whatever might happen to him. "No. Forget it, Dash," he says seriously._

_I stare_ _at him for a few seconds in total silence. Then I drop him and shove him away from me. "Fine. Don't tell me. I'll figure it out myself."_

_Fenton looks uneasy, but his freaky girlfriend laughs out loud. "Please, as if _you_ could figure it out. You'll never get anywhere by yourself. Come on, guys." She grabs Fenton and Foley by the arms and drags them off down the hall._

_"Yeah? Well, we'll see about that!" I shout after her._

_She's right, though. I know I'm not the brightest tool in the shed, or, or the sharpest crayon in the—look, whatever, I know I'm kind of dumb, even if I'm the best at everything else. There's no way I can dig out Fenton's secret by myself._

_So I'm going to have to get some help._

A blast shakes the overturned car I'm hiding behind. I swallow down a yelp. Oh god, did it hear me? "Come now, is that all you've got?" calls a voice, not far from where I'm crouched. I shrink back into the shadows as far as I can, trembling.

_I stomp to lunch in a rotten mood. God, I wanna break something. My friends are tiptoeing around me like mice—well, except for Paulina, who's just ignoring me. But that's all fine with me. I glare at each one as I cross them off my list of who I can get to help me find Fenton's secret._

_Not Kwan. He gets better math grades than I do—sorta—but he can't read people at all. He'd probably just get in the way._

_Not Paulina. She's good at rooting out people's secrets with her girly charm or whatever, but Fenton's got that Goth girl watching his back. Besides, Paulina gets crazy whenever Phantom's involved._

_Not Star. She wouldn't care._

_Not Valerie. Still sore about being kicked out of the group. Besides, she has a thing for Fenton._

_I'm not even hungry enough for lunch, so I turn around to leave the cafeteria and crash right into dopey little Mikey, the twerp who does my homework for me when I care enough to harass him about it. Perfect. I'm in the mood for whaling on someone, and Mikey's just made himself the target. "Watch where you're going, moron," I snarl. I shove him, and he falls backward. He drops his armload of books, and papers scatter all over the floor. I'm about to step all over them, when the grades scribbled on them make me pause._

_"You're pretty smart, aren't you, Mikey?" I think out loud. I bend over to pick up an old test and shake the red 98% in his face. He bobs his head up and down real fast in agreement. "And you're not very noticeable, seeing as I nearly ran you over just now." He nods again, eyes wide with fear. "An' you get along okay with Fenton?"_

_"Oh, no, Fenton's too much of a loser to hang out with," he rushes to tell me. I scowl. "Er, but, ah, I mean, w-w-we aren't e-enemies or anything."_

_"Good," I growl. "'Cause now I've got a job for you, Mikey, and you're gonna do it whether you like it or not, y'hear?"_

"Please, stop this! I know you're still in there somewhere! Snap out of it!"

Phantom's trying to talk to the other ghost again. It sounds like they used to know each other or something. I'm pretty sure Phantom's trying to go easy on the other ghost, but it isn't playing games. Another blast goes off, and Phantom grunts in pain. The other ghost laughs evilly, which sounds really creepy, not just cause it's an evil laugh, but cause it's like its voice isn't really meant for it.

"Please, I don't want to hurt you!"

"You're wasting your time, Phantom!"

Another blast hits the car I'm using for shelter. But this time, instead of just rattling, it starts to freeze over. I cry out and scramble away from it, snapping a few icicles that started to grow onto me, too. But breaking my cover, I find myself face to face with the ghost that's fighting Phantom: a giant polar-bear-bigfoot-reindeer monster, with huge ice horns and an arm that's frozen so that you can see the bones inside of it. It grins at me, baring giant teeth. I can see my reflection in its glowing red eyes.

_I gave Mikey a week before he had to report to me. I expected him to crawl back to me all sniveling and scared, asking for more time. So I'm shocked __when, five days after I gave him his mission, he comes running up to me, out of breath and looking as excited as a little kid in a candy shop._

_"I know what it is! I know what Danny's secret is!" He actually grabs my arm and tries to tug me out of the busy hallway. Stunned by how totally not afraid of me he is, I let him pull me to an empty classroom. The door isn't even shut all the way before he starts babbling._

_"I've figured it out! It's a wonder that it never occurred to me before! I can't believe no one has ever discovered it! It's so obvious, to the careful observer!" He bounces up and down on his toes, not noticing how his glasses are slipping off. "All the signs are there! The inconspicuous identity as the social outcast! The loyal friends with unique, useful specializations! The numerous disappearances, often coinciding with local crises! The—"_

_I grab him by the collar and give him a little shake to shut him up. "What are you talking about? You're not making any sense!"_

_Even my glare doesn't intimidate him. He smiles happily at me. "Danny's a superhero! A _real_ superhero!"_

_I groan and drop him. "Yeah, yeah, I already knew that." The twerp didn't get what I was looking for, after all. "Fenton's Phantom's sidekick. I wanted—"_

_"No! You don't understand!" I stare at Mikey. He actually dared to interrupt me! "Danny's not just someone's sidekick. I would be able to tell. But he has all the traits of a _true_ hero. Trust me, I am qualified to recognize one. But what I find particularly intriguing is that there are currently no superheroes who would need a secret identity…" I tune him out as he continues to spout off a bunch of nerdy gibberish that I can't understand._

_So…Fenton was lying to me. Or at least kinda. Maybe he really does work with Phantom, but it's not just holding Phantom's thermos, or whatever. He probably does some real fighting. I guess that makes sense, with his parents being ghost hunters and all. But I still think there's something more to all of this. If Fenton really does have some sort of superpowers, I wanna know what they are._ _I'll have Mikey keep looking into it, but I'm gonna do some nosing of my own._

There's a twelve-foot, white, furry, red-eyed ghost monster with teeth as long as my arm grinning at me like I'm dinner: I am so outta here. I run. The ghost laughs, and there's a loud whistling sound behind me. My feet go numb and I trip, cutting my hands open on the ground. I look over my shoulder. Oh god, oh god, my feet are frozen in a giant block of ice! I flip over onto my back and rock myself back onto my feet, but now that I'm standing, I'm stuck, unless I find a way to hop away from the ice ghost. It's staring at me, with that awful grin on its face.

"What's this, Phantom?" The ghost boy's hovering overhead, looking worried and a bit beat up. "Friend of yours?"

"No! It's just—some dumb kid. Leave him out of this!"

The ice ghost laughs again. "But even if you don't know him, you want to protect him, right?"

_Following Fenton isn't so easy. Now I get why Mikey looked so unsure when I told him to tail Fenton when he disappears. He does it a lot, and I guess he's gotten really good at it, cause half the time nobody even sees that he's gone, and he loses me even when I'm trying to keep an eye on him._

_But this time, I think I've got him. Fenton asked Tetslaff if he could go see the nurse and was out the door before she could do anything about it. So I volunteered to make sure Fenton got there okay and followed. I got lucky. P.E.'s the one class I have with Fenton that the other two losers aren't in._

Snow Monster Ghost raises a hand. This time, instead of the bluey-white glow of the ice powers he was using earlier, the same creepy red light shining in his eyes begins to glow in his hand. "Say good-bye to your so-called hero, boy."

I am so dead.

_I catch sight of Fenton just as he runs around a corner and tear off after him. I try to keep it quiet, but it's already hard to keep up with him, he's going so fast. Why doesn't he ever run like that in P.E.? I keep him in sight until he runs right out of the school's front door. By the time I make it to the front steps, I've lost him again._

_Wait, what's that? Over there, floating over the sidewalk, that's Phantom! This is my chance! I can ask him about Fenton. I'm already sprinting over to the ghost boy before I've finished thinking about what I want to say to him. He hears me coming and whirls around to face me, eyes shining green like he's about to attack. I skid to a stop, freaked out, but the green light tones down to a more normal glow. His eyes are still narrow and angry-looking, though._

_"What are you doing here? It's dangerous!"_

_"What?" I look around wildly. "Is there a ghost attacking?"_

_"Would I be here if there wasn't? Don't answer that. Just—hide!" Without warning, he grabs me with freezing cold hands and shoves me under a car parked in front of the school. It's cramped and gross, but four seconds later, when I hear the first sounds of an epic ghost fight, I'm grateful for my hiding place. I watch the whole thing from between the tires, eyes bugging out of my head._

I can't look away.

That second where the killer laser blast builds up around the ice ghost's hands lasts for what feels like forever.

But just as the light jumps away from the ghost's hands towards me, something black and white blocks my view. I'm slammed back like I've been hit in the chest with a sledgehammer. I crash into that car, and the ice around my feet breaks off. I blink a few times, trying to shake away the black spots crowding around. My skull and back ache like crazy.

When my head clears up a bit, I notice a light weight on top of me, like a blanket, except cold instead of warm. I squint down, and my eyes finally shift into focus. It's Phantom.

He's in pretty bad shape. His eyes are closed, like he's unconscious. Part of his suit's burned away, and there's this big, bloody gash low on his chest. The ghost glow all around him is flickering.

The other ghost is picking itself up off the ground. Some of his fur is all black and smoking. Looks like maybe Phantom got in a shot before getting hit himself. The ice ghost turns its head toward Phantom and me. I gulp. I gotta get us out of here. I wrap my arms around Phantom's waist and try to stand. Pain shoots up my leg. Crap, crap, crap—it's broken, seriously broken—must have broken when I hit the car! There's no way I'm running on it.

I clutch Phantom tighter and try to drag us backward. The ice ghost slowly begins to walk toward us. I'm breathing too fast, panicking. My hands slip in Phantom's blood. His head lolls around awkwardly on my shoulder.

"C'mon, Fenton," I mutter desperately. "If it's true that you're some sort of superhero, now would be a really good time to show up!"

A ring of light suddenly appears around Phantom's middle. I jump, but it doesn't hurt me. It splits into two circles, one going up over Phantom's head, the other going down over his feet. I stare as Phantom's black suit changes into a white t-shirt and jeans, white boots turn into red Converse, gloves disappear, and Phantom's white hair turns black.

My head buzzes as I stare down at Fenton, Danny _Fenton_, bleeding in my arms.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>You asked for it.


	3. Chapter 3

**.:three:.**

This isn't possible.

Fenton? Danny _Fenton?_ Is…? No. No way.

No _way_ I get to find out something this big right when I'm about to die.

It hurts to swallow. I have a choice: do I wanna see when I get blasted to smithereens, or better not to look? I shoot a glance up. Nope. Bad choice. Bad, bad, bad choice. I forgot how creepy those yellow eyes are, and they're right there, right in my face. Weren't they red? Oh god, that ghost is waaaay too close, why is it bending over, why isn't it blasting anything yet, shut up Dash you're babbling in your head don't care I don't wanna die!

"Child. Human child. Can you hear me?"

C'mon, Dash, it's just a broken leg! You can still get up, get away! Gotta save Phantom—Fenton—Phantom?—too! _Do something, you moron! Anything!_

"Child, I know that you are frightened, but it is important that you listen to me. I need you to remove this collar immediately. It is the device by which I am being forced to fight the Great One."

"Don't kill me." My voice comes out in a croak.

"I have no wish to, child, but you must remove the collar."

Collar…why does the killer ghost keep going on about a collar? It wants me to take it off? I tear my eyes away from the awful yellow eyes, try not to stare at the teeth instead, and look at the ghost's neck. Oh, hey, a collar. It's sort of like an ugly dog collar, old black leather with these weird glowy red crystal spikes. A couple of them are broken and dull, though, and the fur on the ghost's neck is smoking a bit. Did Phantom do that?

"Hurry, child!" the ghost growls. "Its power does not permit me to remove it myself, and the Great One's shot disrupted it only momentarily. I cannot resist its control much longer!" Its eyes are starting to go red again. That can't be good. I don't really want to touch the ghost, but I don't want to get blasted with red light, either, so I reach up and fumble for the buckle of the collar. My hands are slippery with Phantom's—_Fenton's_—blood, but it falls off pretty easy. The big ghost relaxes, and its eyes turn yellow again.

"I owe you my thanks." It bares its teeth at me, and I automatically lean away. "I am Frostbite. Who are you, child? What is your relation to the Great One?" Frostbite? Child? Great One? I'm totally lost here, but…maybe…it's trying to be friendly? I think I better say something. Except my tongue's all garbled in my mouth. All I get out is a squeak. The ghost sighs. "I suppose it is not important for the present. We must tend to the Great One."

My head's finally beginning to tick again."Th-the Great One? You m-mean…Fe—Phantom?" I glance at Fenton, whose head's drooping backwards on my shoulder. _Fenton._ He's so…so _pale_. And I've beaten him up pretty bad before, but I've never seen him like, like _this_, you know, all bloody and unconscious. Suddenly, that image I had back on the roof when I thought Fenton was trying to off himself pops back into my head. He's looking almost as bad as I pictured back then right now, and I remember what it felt like, wanting to save someone you don't even like, because, well, you just _do._

_BANG!_

I whip my head around almost as fast as the ice ghost does. The doors of the school are hanging open, and flying down the steps is that Goth girl, with the techno geek right on her heels. Great. I have a feeling that this isn't going to turn out too good.

"Danny!" Manson shouts. Her eyes turn to me. Oh god, she's gonna murder me. "You!" she hisses. "What did you do?"

"_Me?"_ I look from Manson's death glare to Foley's suspicious expression and feel anger sear through my gut. It's not like _I _did something wrong! "This isn't my fault! Furry Ice Monster over here's the one who blasted him!"

"It is true," the snow ghost cuts in.

"It doesn't matter!" Manson snaps. "What's Dash even doing out here in the first place?"

"Well, if you'd told me that Fenton is _Phantom,_ maybe I wouldn't have come running out here in the first place!" I snarl. Geez, it's not like just being here is a crime!

Manson and Foley both freeze up. "You saw?" demands Manson. She's totally white—she could be a ghost herself.

"This is bad," mutters Foley.

The ice ghost looks at the pair of them, confused. "This child is not an ally of the Great One?"

Ignoring the question, Manson drops to one knee and grabs a fistful of my shirt. "You can't tell anyone. Ever! Understand?" she growls right in my face.

"Definitely not one of Danny's friends," Foley explains to the ice ghost. "More like his eternal tormentor."

"If you tell one soul, it will ruin everything!"

"This boy has brought harm to the Great One? Why does the Great One allow it?"

"It's not that he _wants_ to! But he can't let anyone find out about his powers."

"Danny has enough on his plate without you interfering!"

"Are you threatening me?"

"Perhaps I should set a guard on this one, to intervene if he should threaten the Great One."

"I will if I have to, Dash! I'll never forgive you if you hurt Danny!"

"I'm not sure that haunting him is such a good idea—"

I try to push Manson aside. "Hey! What's that about haunting me?"

"_Listen_ to me, Dash!"

"Will everyone please shut up?" interrupts a hoarse voice. We all freeze. Fenton stirs and slowly lifts his head off my shoulder, his face screwed up with pain. He takes one glance around the crowd surrounding him, then focuses on the ice ghost. "You're you again?" he croaks.

"Yes, Great One, I have returned to myself," the ice ghost replies. Fenton nods and looks at his friends.

"How bad is it?"

Foley kneels down next to Manson. "Dash knows about you being Phantom." Fenton glances at me and nods. Not the reaction I was expecting, after Manson and Foley. Maybe he's too hurt to care? But…he's talking pretty normally... Foley continues, "The school called your parents ten minutes ago to report the ghost attack, which means they'll be here in six minutes or less. You've got _that_ to deal with"—he's pointing at Fenton's gash—"and apparently Frostbite's the one who did it to you?"

"Frostbite was being controlled by some weird collar thing," Fenton explains tiredly. "The ghost that was controlling him was talking to me through Frostbite. Breaking the collar probably wasn't enough—I'll have to deal with him later."

"Was that the only collar?" asks Manson. "Or are there more?"

"I am not certain." The ice ghost speaks up. "My comrades and I discovered the device in a little-traveled area of the Far Frozen. I fear for the state of my homeland, if more have been uncovered."

"Dude, this could be a huge problem!" chimes in Foley. "What if collars weren't planted just in the Far Frozen, but all over the Ghost Zone? We could have all sorts of our allies coming after us!"

I'm in way over my head. Far Frozen, Ghost Zone? They have more ghost friends? And now they're talking about taking the "Specter Speeder" through the "Portal" and...something. Geez, I can't follow this at all. It's like they're talking in a different language entirely, like they come from a different world_. _How did all this happen? Why _Fenton_—and Manson and Foley, for that matter? If Fenton's Phantom, and Phantom's a ghost, is Fenton even alive? Is Phantom even dead? My head's spinning enough to make me feel sick to my stomach. I wish I hadn't gone fishing around for answers. I wish I was back in the real world, where beating up Fenton's just beating up Fenton, and the only things that really matter are being the best at football and making out with Paulina, and there isn't blood all over me, and a great furry ghost monster crouching two feet away having a serious conversation, and people I always thought were losers ignoring me like I'm some fly on the wall.

"Guys!" Foley cuts in. I start and stare. The others go quiet, too. "Danny's parents will be here any minute. We need to get out of here, and we still haven't dealt with the most important thing." He points at the deep gash on Fenton's stomach. Fenton quickly covers it with his hand.

"It's fine," he says, trying to scramble to his feet. He nearly face-plants into the asphalt, but the ice ghost quickly catches him. "I'm fine," Fenton repeats shakily. "The bleeding's not that bad. After I patch it up, I can make it through the last couple of classes."

Manson bites her lip. "You," she says suddenly, pointing at me. "You followed Danny out here, right? You can help him back in. Get him to his next class, tell the teacher that he had a stomach ache and you had to take him to the nurse. Then Tucker and I can do cover up out here, if we need to."

"Yeahhh, just one little problem." I point at my leg. "My leg's shot. Broken." Manson looks at my leg—what, don't believe me?—and winces. Good, let her feel guilty for all the yelling she's been doing! I'm not exactly coming out of this clean and easy. I'm sick and tired of being scared, blamed, and confused. And not to mention, hurt. I may've forgot about my leg for awhile, what with being worried about my _life_ and all, but now it's starting to really throb.

"I might be able to help with that." The ice ghost, Frostbait, leans over me. Holy crap, no way, I don't care if it's supposed to be friendly, keep that thing away from me! He reaches for my leg and I yelp, expecting major hurt, but his hands go right through my skin. Oh god, that is so gross! I can feel, like, ghost fingers on my _bone_! Except now I can't even feel my leg and—_AGH!_

"What _was_ that? What did you _do?"_ I snap. "That _hurt!"_ Except…well, now it's not hurting so much anymore. Actually, it doesn't even feel broken, just…weird.

"I have fused the broken ends of your bone together, child. I made them intangible, then overlapped them slightly and let them solidify again." Ergh…that sounds…ugh.

"Whoa, that could be useful," Fenton says as he holds his arm up, out of Manson's way. Goth Girl's already pulled some gauze out from somewhere and started to wrap him up.

"I would not recommend that you attempt this, Great One. It requires a certain delicacy, and you tend to, ah, need a bit of time and room for error when learning new skills." Fenton winces. "Furthermore, it is not true healing and best used as a last resort."

"Point taken," Fenton says. "Guess that means you'll need to get that looked at later, Dash. For now though, can you stand?"

I'm actually kinda afraid to try, but Manson's finished dealing with Danny's gash and is starting to look impatient again, so I guess I'd better risk it. All right, Dash, one step at a time. Get your legs under you, hands on the ground, push up into a crouch…and…straighten. Okay...leg's holding up…okay.

"Here." Fenton grabs my shoulder. My body goes all funny then turns kind of invisible. Fenton's blood, which was all over my hands and shirt, slides right off, and then I go back to normal. Gross…

"Stop wasting time, you two!" Manson says, shoving both of us in the back. "Go back to class! And you," she says straight at me. "Not. One. Soul."

Fenton starts walking, and my feet carry me after him, feeling strangely distant from the rest of me. I've got this ringing in my ears, and my head feels like it's not connected to my body. I sort of float up the stairs. A glance over my shoulder shows me Manson and Foley pointing some sort of thermos thingy at the collar lying on the ground and Frostbite clearing up some of the ice from his battle with Fenton. And then Fenton closes the school doors, cutting off my view.

Fenton meets my eyes. "We've got history next."

"History…yeah." It doesn't seem real, somehow.

"So, let's go?"

"Yeah."

This silence between us is really awkward. Our footsteps echo all over the empty hallways. Fenton's breath is annoyingly loud. Geez, shut up already—wait. His face is really pale, and he's walking kinda slow. Oh man, I already forgot, he's hurt. I'm supposed to be helping him, right? I grab his arm and drape it over my shoulder. God, he's so short, he's practically hanging off me. Hard to believe he was fighting that giant frost monster.

"Hey! What're you doing?" Fenton tries to pull his arm away.

"I'm helping you."

"I'm fine!"

But he's not fine…and it's partly my fault. I can't look him in the eyes. "Look, it's okay. I'll help you."

Fenton goes all stiff, but he stops struggling. "Um. Okay. Thanks."

"Yeah."

Right outside the classroom door, Fenton holds me back for a second. "Dash." What now? Why do you have that intense look on your face right now, the one that makes me feel like crumbling? I can't handle any more than this!

"If anyone finds out about me, I'm done for," Fenton says quietly. "I'll be hunted down by someone—the government, maybe even my own parents. This," he waves his hand all around him, at the hallways and classrooms, at the lockers and bathrooms, even at me, "is my only hiding place. I'll protect it any way I can, but in the end, I can't save it from someone who already knows about it." He stares at me for a long moment. Doesn't ask me to promise anything, doesn't beg, doesn't threaten. Just stares. Then he opens the door and walks into class.

And for a second, I can't move. That was Phantom. Phantom, who I've gone to school with since second grade. Phantom, who I used to beat up for getting better grades than me, then kept beating up when he suddenly stopped being smart just because it was habit. Phantom, who can't even run two laps around the gym; Phantom, who's too much of a loser to invite to parties; Phantom, Phan_turd_, Phan_tonia_, Phan_ton._

Phantom, who's seen the worst side of me, and relies on it because it's part of being "normal." Part of the hiding place.

Somehow, I make myself stumble after him and close the classroom door behind me.

We're seriously late for class, but the teacher buys our excuses. Not surprising, really. Fenton still _looks_ like he's sick to his stomach, even though he cleaned the blood up off his shirt and you can't see the bandages. But he sits down like everything's normal and pretends—at least, I think he's pretending, I mean, how could he not be after all of that?—to pay attention to whatever boring lecture the teacher's giving. Geez, what _is_ this kid?

Not human.

It's really hitting me now. This guy isn't human. He can't be. It's not just that normal people don't change from tough-looking ghosts into wimpy-looking humans. It's not just that normal people don't pick themselves up off the ground after being knocked unconscious and bleeding everywhere and just walk back to class. It's not even that normal people don't talk about saving the world from a ghost invasion, or whatever it was that Fenton and the others were talking about with the ghost that just tried to kill them. Normal people…normal people don't take hits for the guy who shoves their head down the toilet on Tuesday mornings just for kicks. Normal people don't pretend to be weaklings when they could actually grind the ones bullying them to a pulp.

This guy…he really isn't possible.

Fenton's head suddenly whips around to the window. His hand starts to go up, then he pauses.

I thought he was my personal punching bag; I thought he was my idol and hero.

Fenton's eyes lock onto mine. There's a question there.

Now, I…no, I really don't know what to make of him. Do I respect Fenton, now? Do I think less of Phantom?

_What will you do?_ he's asking me silently.

No. This isn't about Fenton, or Phantom. This person sitting in front of me, this is someone I don't know. Both the hero and the loser have become a stranger to me.

So I shrug at Fenton. What _can_ I do? I don't know anything. I'm no angel, but I'm nobody that could stand in his way, either. This guy, he's not in my league.

Fenton seems to see something in my shrug. He nods at me, just a bit. Then he turns away, raises his hand, and asks to be excused. I snort and look away. That's right, just leave me out of it. I don't want anything to do with this crazy stuff.

Still, it doesn't hurt to glance out the window and hope for a glimpse of that black and white suit, or a flash of green light.

* * *

><p><strong>Note:<strong> The end. I give all of my thanks to the world's awesomest beta, who turned this from something wimpy into something passable.


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